The Bitter End Of "The War To End All Wars"

Rather ushering in an era of peace, many
see the Versailles Treaty as directly
leading to the holocaust of World War II.

Today, 11/11, is Armistice Day, marking the signing of the Versaille treaty that ended World War I at 11 am a hundred years ago. This horrific carnage represented  the most wholesale slaughter the world had ever seen, resulting in thirty million soldiers being killed or wounded and another seven million taken captive.

A couple of decades later, World War II, a direct result of this "Great War", and with far more civilian casualties to add to the death toll, resulted in well over twice as many men, women and children losing their lives.

All of this could have been prevented if the many voices for peace had been heeded in the so-called "Christian" countries of the world prior to the onset of WWI. Both socialists on the left and Jesus-minded Christians everywhere universally condemned the hyped up pro-war propaganda preceding the deadly conflict, and many mothers and other groups of women spoke out against engaging in the conflict.

All to no avail. Led by military and other national leaders, the majority of citizens ignored all warnings and became convinced their side would win a swift and glorious victory. Young men flocked to register by the thousands, never dreaming they would have to endure unimaginable hardships and endless battles in which thousands were butchered and gassed in a form of trench warfare that often saw no real progress made by either side.

Up to the very last minute, deadly assaults resulted in futile and senseless loss of life, either out of fear that the armistice would not hold or out of sheer hatred and a desire to inflict as much last minute suffering on the other side as possible.

One wonders whether humanity is ever capable of learning from its own history, much less from listening to followers of the Prince of Peace who promote opposition to war as the most urgent moral issue of all time.

Here's a link to one of the best known poems about the War, written by Wilfred Owens, who was killed only months before the War's end. The title he gave his bitter piece was "Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori" ("It is sweet and right to die for your country").